Love Blooms like a Fire Flower
by imaginarydaydreams
Summary: Pairing: TakuKamu; Takumi and Kamui/Corrin celebrate a Hoshidan festival together following the Endgame of Revelations. Spoilers for the ending of Revelations. Corrin is referred to by the name Kamui.


Today was finally the day. Colorful paper lanterns of various sizes were strung in between the stands, encompassing the area in a soft red light. The sun had just started to set, painting the sky in reds, oranges, and lilacs. Citizens and soldiers were already gathering in the center of the city, excitedly talking among one another about the events to come.

The war against Anankos had finally ended, ushering in a new era of peace between both kingdoms. It would have been appropriate to celebrate such a victory immediately; however, both Nohr and Hoshido were in need in reparations, starting with the rebuilding of the latter's capital city. Hence why the festival postponed until everything was rebuilt. But it was well-worth the wait.

The festival looked perfect.

The youngest prince of Hoshido was currently walking through the streets, admiring the effort put into the decorations. Ever since the war had ended, he had worked hard with his siblings and the members of the Nohrian royal family to restore peace to their kingdoms. This was the first time in a while that he would get to relax for once. He was excited.

Of course, it wasn't as if Takumi was the only one waiting for this day to come. He glanced over at his wife, Kamui, who was looking around at all the decorations excitedly, a clear bounce in her step. She looked like a puppy eagerly waiting for a treat.

"You look totally calm for someone who's about to have a taste of her first Hoshidan festival," he teased. "Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to?"

Kamui turned her head towards him, still grinning widely. "Haha, very funny," she laughed as she turned to 'glare' at him. "And I don't know; this is my first festival ever! I…what's there to do? What's fun? Oh, but I want to do everything…! What do you recommend we do first?" She looked at him expectantly.

Takumi stopped in his tracks. It's been quite a while since he's been to a festival as well; what was something fun to do? There were just so many choices! He paused, contemplating the choices, when he heard a sharp gasp and felt a sharp tug of his arm. Takumi was snapped out of his thoughts–he had to concentrate on not falling on his face–and looked up at Kamui, who was currently trying to drag him somewhere.

"H-hey, you almost made me trip! Where are we going?"

Kamui was still tugging his arm, too caught up in their destination to answer him. She led him over to a booth where an elderly man sat. In front of him was a large glass tank filled with tiny fish happily swimming around.

"Hello there, Your Highness, are you enjoying the festival so far?" The man asked Kamui. She nodded, earning her a hearty laugh. "Well that's good; I'm glad! Well, welcome to my humble booth; would you like to give it a try?"

Kamui stared, entranced, at the fish swimming around. Her eyes sparkled with that childish wonder that he loved so much. "How do you play?

"Easy; all you have to do is use this scoop," he said as he handed her a tiny net, then gestured to the tank, "And try to get one of those little fishes in the tank. If you do, you get to keep the one you got!"

"Oh! That sounds like fun; I'd like to try, please!"

"Of course, Your Highness, go ahead!"

Kamui looked down at the tank, watching with serious concentration at the fish swimming around. She dipped the net into the pond, but as soon as the net touched the water's surface, all of the fish swam away from it. Kamui frowned, removed the net, and tried again. No luck. She tried again. No luck.

After the fifth time, she was about to hand over the net to the man and apologize for taking up his time, when Takumi gently took the net from her. "What are you doing?" She stared at him questioningly.

He gave her a quick glance before taking her place in front of the tank. "Showing you how it's done. After all, this is a really easy game if you know what you're doing." He turned back towards the tank, dipping the net in slowly and observing the fishes' movement. The fish apparently didn't seem to notice the net; they kept swimming above it once…twice…there!

Takumi quickly lifted the net. When it broke the surface of the water, a small goldfish wriggled on top, desperately trying to break free and return to the water. Kamui came beside him, looking at him in awe.

"Wow, you're amazing," she gaped. "You managed to get it on your first try!"

The old man running the booth smiled at Takumi. "Congratulations!" He held out a little bag filled with water, to which Takumi placed the net into. The goldfish swam around the little bag as the man tied the top and handed it to the young prince, who in turn handed the bag to Kamui with a smile.

The two said their goodbyes before departing from the booth. They walked around aimlessly, Kamui happily watching the fish swim around, until Takumi spotted something to his left.

"Wait here," he told Kamui as he left to go to a booth. Kamui only watched him as he walked up to one of the food booths. When he returned, he was holding a small box in his hands, a few toothpicks peeking over the edge.

"Here, try this. I think you'll like it. After all, these are probably one of my favorite Hoshidan treats…next to miso soup, that is." He took a toothpick from the box and handed it to her. Kamui warily looked at it. She peered over at Takumi, who was taking a bite out of one of the weird foods. He caught her gaze and paused when he saw that she still hadn't taken a bite yet. "What's wrong? It doesn't taste good?"

"No, no, it's not that…but rather…what is this?" Kamui asked, eyeing the strange treat. It was a ball of fried batter, cooked so that it was a beautiful golden color. A dark-colored sauce was drizzled over it, a few dried flakes of…something sprinkled on the top.

"It's called Takoyaki in Hoshido, but for others, they just call it octopus balls since that's what it's made out of. I can't remember when, but you said that you wanted to try it before…so yeah." He took another one out of the container and took a bite. "You should go ahead and try it; it's really good."

"…"

"What? You don't want any…?"

"No, it's not that, but…" Takumi could already see the tips of Kamui's ears darkening to a shade of red akin to her eyes. She looked down in embarrassment. "…I thought that they were supposed to be shaped like fish…."

Takumi raised an eyebrow. Fish…? What kind of treat was she thinking of–oh. The thought hit him like a cart. Was she referring to…? "…Are you talking about…taiyaki?"

Kamui's ears only darkened at the question. She couldn't even meet his eyes. Takumi couldn't help but start laughing. It wasn't right, but he just couldn't help himself. "How could you mistaken takoyaki with taiyaki?"

"Their names are similar, okay?" She snapped in embarrassment, glaring at him. The blush had spread so much to her face that he couldn't distinguish it from the light of the lanterns. That only made him laugh more. "Stop laughing," she said, slapping his arm.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's just…that was funny and adorable; you're funny and adorable," he said, kissing her cheek and fueling an even brighter blush. "If you want, we can get some taiyaki later too, but for now, why don't you try the takoyaki? I'm sure you'll like it."

She shrugged and took a bite like he told her to. Immediately, she turned towards him and poked her toothpick through another before stuffing it into her mouth. "These are really good," she said after eating a third one.

"I'm glad you like it, but save some for me, will you? You already ate half the box!"

"Fine," Kamui muttered, allowing Takumi his turn to get one of the takoyaki balls. Yet, as soon as he was about to eat it, Kamui leaned over and ate the snack off the stick, making eye contact with him as she did so.

"Hey, that was mine!" Takumi glared at the princess, who in turn gave him a smirk before pulling away.

"I'm your wife though; you have to share with me~" she teased.

"Kamui, you just ate the last one though!"

She looked at him with seemingly remorseful eyes, a sheepish smile on her lips. "I'm sorry," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. The younger prince only blushed at the act, paying half-attention to her remaining words. "I'll make it up to you; I'll buy another one…if you can catch me." And with those last words, she took off running through the crowd.

Only a second passed when the words, along with the faint echoes of Kamui's laughter, finally registered with Takumi. He immediately snapped back to reality and started running after her, shouting, "Kamui, get back here!"

* * *

It was already well into the night when Kamui and Takumi were exhausted from walking around all day. Well, mainly Takumi was exhausted since Kamui made him run all over the place while he was busy chasing her. The others must have thought them to be crazy. He still didn't understand how she managed to be so quick, what with being barefooted and carrying a goldfish. And when he finally did catch her, she dragged him to all the booths in the central plaza. He didn't mind though; he liked seeing her eyes light up with every booth they visited.

The two royals sat down on the soft grass, making themselves comfortable under the shade of their favorite cherry tree, quite a distance away from where the action was still occurring.

"So how did you enjoy your first real Hoshidan festival? It was nice, right? Like everything that you wanted?"

"It was better than anything I could have ever dreamed of!" Takumi could hear the utter delight from tonight's events laced through her words, only confirmed by the child-like joy twinkling in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Actually, I would have expected that you did, considering that you dragged me to pretty much all the booths there."

Kamui flicked his forehead lightly. "Well, excuse me for being so excited," she giggled. "Like you said, this was my first festival ever, so I couldn't help but get excited."

Takumi didn't have a comeback, so he just looked up towards the night sky, watching the stars wink down at them. Kamui chose to do the same, still smiling brightly. The two reveled in the peaceful silence and the company of one another, watching the stars as they always did in their spare time.

A voice broke through the tranquility. "…Can you actually believe it?"

Takumi turned to look at Kamui from his spot, confused. "Believe what…?"

"Can you believe that this," she repeated, her hand sweeping through the air, gesturing towards the lively festival below them. "…is actually happening. I mean, we went from fighting a total war to celebrating an everlasting peace between former sworn enemies! And then there's you and me…when we first met, you didn't trust me—not that I'm saying I blame you, you had every right not to! But still…"

"How exactly did we go from being virtually enemies…to lovers?" He finished for her.

His abrupt statement stunned her, but Kamui soon relaxed. "Yeah."

A long silence passed between the two. The only sounds that echoed through the night were those of the cheers and loud laughter in the square. Kamui finally spoke up again, "But, you know, I'm not really complaining. It's been a long process, yet…in the end, I'm glad I was able to fall in love with you." She turned to look at him, gazing at him lovingly.

Takumi felt his heart race and he knew for sure that a faint blush was already spreading on his face. He knew that Kamui cherished him as much as he did her, but he just still couldn't believe it. He had been nothing but wary and unkind to her in the beginning, but, somewhere in her heart, she had chosen to forgive his actions; chosen to look past his defenses; chosen to love him wholly, despite all of his flaws. It honestly was a miracle–one that he wasn't planning on letting go of anytime soon.

"Takumi?"

He came back to his senses just in time to see a hand was waving in front of his face. "You were spacing out. Is something wrong?"

Kamui looked up at him with curiosity and concern in her eyes. Gods, she was beautiful.

"You know, Kamui, I wouldn't say that I'm glad I was able to fall in love with you, but rather…"

Moving closer to her, Takumi pulled Kamui into a tight embrace. He placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead, conveying the amount of love and adoration that he held for her.

As the sky lit up with an array of colors–weaving reds, whites, purples, and golds into the summer night sky–the faint whisper of a confession could be heard between the two.

 _"I'm glad I was able to love you from the start."_


End file.
